


The Sixth Blight- Chapter One- The Dancer

by BelleWrites (sunleyemrys)



Series: The Sixth Blight RP [21]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: AU, OC, Role-Playing Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 13:58:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15820281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunleyemrys/pseuds/BelleWrites
Summary: Big ass project to turn the collaborative role play writing I've been doing with a group of friends into a cohesive story. Some things will be edited from the original posts.. but this is largely just cleaning it up and putting everything in order. Each major plot point will be its own post with chapters. Hopefully the story will make sense.Other parts in the series happen at the same time as some of the chapters, so if something seems to missing, its likely cause there is a piece of the story not posted yet. Just please be patient with me.





	The Sixth Blight- Chapter One- The Dancer

"Just because its a shield, doesnt mean you cant hit someone with it!" A voice growled from behind a helmet, sword flashing through the air, shattering the shield.

"See? Useless!" Sheathing her sword, Penelope tossed her helmet off, bright red hair tumbling free.

She watched the grounds, noticing a few new faces among them. "Soldier!" She snapped at the nearest Warden, the command in her voice forcing him to stop. "I want it posted that each new Warden should come to me to assess their combat ability or lack there of."

Penelope pulled her sword free, "I'll not go into battle with barely trained children scared of touching a blade for fear of injury. Understood?" She began pummeling her opponent, who's cries for mercy fell on deaf ears.

"Yes Ma'am!" the Warden replied, scurrying away from the heavily armored woman before she decided on more target practice.

NEW WARDENS! PLEASE SEE MISTRESS PENELOPE TO ASSESS YOUR COMBAT SKILLS AND RECEIVE TRAINING! Also, come heavily armored as she does not hold back. Ever.

***

Tiberius walked up to the training yard, happy to be back in armor. He felt more secure with his tower shield in hand and sword on his hip, as well. Rhita was perched on a fence post, talking to a tall redhead in imposing plate armor. Several other Wardens meandered over to Rhita and the woman Tiberius assumed was Penelope. He also noticed a few younger men in armor moping around who looked sweaty, sore, and bruised.

He snapped into a Tevinter salute when Penelope noticed him. “Reporting for combat training, ser!”

She tossed aside her weapons, staring at the soldier. "Am I a Tevinter General? No, I am not. Do not salute me as such ever again."

Penelope pointed at the row of dummies, "From the moment of your Joining, you left the soldier life behind. You may address me as Warden-Captain Aurelius. Any attempts to refer to me as Mistress or Penelope will have you digging a new latrine with your shield. Understood?"

She waited for him to nod, "Now show me your skills as a warrior so I may best see what training you require."

Tiberius stepped up to the dummies and fell into a familiar precision drill he'd done countless times in his Tevinter army training. The movements were second nature to him, leaving his mind free to fixate. He'd come here to work out his frustration with his brother, but this performative training was only adding to his tension. He could feel not just the Warden-Captain's eyes on him, but also the stares of Rhita and the other Wardens who had gathered around. Did they want a show? Was that all he was good for? To be a dancing monkey for their entertainment?

He slammed his tower shield into the dummy. Even that wasn't satisfying; the straw gave and bounced back, none the worse for wear. Tiberius turned to face his trainer. "Warden-Captain Aurelius, ser! I believe I can give you a better show of my skills if we spar."

This was exactly what she wanted of course. He had walked right into her trap. "You want to spar? With me? Oh, I dont think you are up for it."

She stepped into his personal space with lightning speed, forcing him to back up until he was pressed against a dummy. "I have spent my life learning the sword, learning the shield, learning the methods of war since I wore curls in my hair. You," She poked a finger into his chest. "Are distracted by blonde hair and blue eyes."

Smirking at his stunned expression, Penelope whirled, sweeping his legs out from under him, dumping Tiberius into the dirt. Before he had a chance to regain his feet, she had him by the ankle and was dragging him away. "Rhita! We will be in the lower chambers! You know the ones!"

Refusing to let him go, she continued to haul him across the dirt, over the cobblestones and down a small flight of stairs until they came upon a pair of closed door. There Penelope released his foot, pushing the doors open.

"You move like a stiff druffalo. There is no grace, no fluidity to your movements. You have strength, yes, but its coarse and unrefined." She began tossing off plate armor until she was left clad in just a simple tunic and loose pants, even her feet were bare.

Penelope approached a far wall hosting a horizontal bar and a row of mirrors, lifting her leg up, she folded herself in half gracefully before releasing and stretching backward until she could meet his eyes. "Well? What are you waiting for? You cannot learn to dance in armor."

What? He blinked twice. Andraste's tits, what was going on? Penelope's barked commands made him instinctively want to comply, just like he used to with his sergeants. But dancing? And how was she doing that?

He supposed he should just embrace the madness. Tiberius doffed his armor mournfully. He felt exposed and out of his element again.

"Ah, ser? I will definitely pull a muscle if I try... that," he said, indicating Penelope's new position, holding her leg up in essentially a full split next to her head. Still, he did his best to comply with her orders, hoisting his left leg up onto the bar and gingerly stretching it out. Maker, why couldn't he just hit something instead?

She batted his leg off the bar, "Of course you'll pull a muscle doing that! You have to start small." Penelope grabbed Tiberius by the shoulders, forcing him to face her. "Feet together, arms at your sides. Bend at the waist and keep your legs straight."

She took a few steps back and turned to the side so he could see, her tall body flowing gracefully until her forehead touched her knees, red hair creating a cape that brushed the floor.

"Now you try," Penelope said once she was standing again. "Stop when you feel your hamstrings pull, you want a slight ache but no pain and no feeling of tearing.

He got down to where his hands could grip his shins, fighting hard not to grimace. He felt a pull in his hamstrings alright. Why couldn't he get any further down? Over the last five years, Tiberius had been cut and bruised too many times to count, had slogged through swamps and jungles in full armor, had charged headlong at enemy fortifications. And yet somehow this task was defeating him? He strained to stretch just a little further. He had to grasp this quickly to earn her respect! Or at least to prove to himself he was worthy of respect. A bead of sweat formed on his brow.

A tearing sound accompanied Tiberius as he forced himself past the point of comfort. She couldnt help it, Penelope giggled, a most undignified snorting sound. Clearing her throat, she leaned over to inspect. "Warden Valerian, you have split the seam of your trousers."

Penelope struggled to keep a straight face as she walked over to the closest, pulling out a pair of leggings she thought would fit him. "Here put these on, I'll have Rhita send those off for mending. Once you are changed, sit on the floor, I see we have a lot of work to do."

Tiberius was feeling almost philosophical. Did the tear in his pants represent the meaninglessness of man's struggle to reach for truth? Or perhaps it represented his hope to tear through the Veil separating this life from the next and escape into the Void? Maybe it just meant he was an idiot.

He changed, redfaced and miserable, then sat. "Warden-Captain, I want to learn to be a better warrior but I still don't see how dance practice is useful for fighting. Flexibility, sure, but I don't think I'll ever be a good enough dancer for it to make a difference out there."

She tossed his torn pants out the door without a word, gliding over to sit across from him. "Dancing is all about learning to read your partner and directing to where you want them. When you learn to read a person's movements you can predict where they will move to, or where the next will come from."

Penelope uncrossed her legs, motioning for him to do the same, planting her feet against his and holding her hands out for him. "Dancing also teaches grace and agility, being able to move fast enough to dodge a blade is just as effective as blocking."

Grabbing his wrists, she slowly pulled him forward, watching his face for that twinge of almost pain. "It was the dancefloor where I was first educated, but I found sparring with my seven brothers to be more rewarding for me. Dancing has many benefits for me, and its something I try to share with the warriors that need it."

Bracing her feet, she slowly forced Tiberius's legs further apart, bringing him closer to the floor. "Besides, Rhita said you were courting a little slip of a girl, and it would be a damn shame if your big hooves trampled her walking the gardens one night."

Tiberius breathed deeply and did his best to relax into the stretch. She was persuasive- as silly as this all still seemed, he forced himself to seriously consider what she said.

"Rhita's been spying on me then? She keeps disappearing, when does she have the time?" Tiberius said. Then he paused. "Wait, hold on. Courting? I don't know if I'd go that far..." He winced, Penelope was pulling him just a little too far.

"How did you ever make the transition from dance floor to training ground? I know ladies don't often do that back home in Tevinter or in Orlais no matter how many brothers they have."

"You kissed the pretty blonde mage in the library storeroom, did you not? Thats the beginnings of courting. Plus I have it on good authority you two shared a pallet in a cave when you rescued Minne, there was even," She shifted her legs to tuck one of his against his groin, pulling Tiberius closer to the floor. "Cuddling."

"As for how I went from dancer to warrior? Easy. I rebelled. Mother wanted me to marry well, Father wanted to see his only daughter. So, I told him I wanted to join the elite, and the Wardens are of good standing where I hail from. Mother of course hasnt spoken to me in oh, five years? Father is very proud."

Tiberius groaned. It wasn't even because of the stretching this time. "So my lovely guardian has been shopping all my business about the fortress. Wonderful. Remind me to never say an unkind word about her, since evidently the walls have ears."

He took a deep breath, released it, and tried to relax further into the stretch. "Sorry about your mother. Must be nice to have a proud father, at least. My own never had quite enough time for me after my brother showed magical talent. He was accepted into one of the academies in the Circle and at that point, he only really bothered with me when he needed my week's pay." Why he was spilling this out to the Warden-Captain, he had no idea.

She shifted their positions, so his feet were touching eachother, pulling his arms forward bringing his forehead close to his ankles. "Rhita does not gossip with anyone but me. I had a difficult time when I first Joined, many of them thought me a snob, but not Rhita. She was my only friend for a long time."

Penelope seemed satisfied Tiberius was loosened up, clapping him on the shoulder, she stood. "Alright, now, next step, a dominant hand on my waist and hold my hand with your other." She rested her free hand on his shoulder.

"Keep your body firm, but not tight, you need to move but dont get into my box of space. I will guide you in reverse. Just follow my steps." The slightest bit of pressure on his shoulder was the signal as she started to move. "One, two, three. One, two, three. Dont look at your feet Warden!"

"Don't look at my feet? I'll trip!" Tiberius protested. He tried to follow the cadence Penelope clipped out but found himself stumbling every time she gently pressured him to change direction. Relax, relax, relax, he admonished himself. He allowed himself to sink into the rhythm and feel for the pattern of the steps. The dance became so much easier when he stopped obsessing over every step.

"I never dreamed I would dance, honestly. It's just not something for people like me. It's always been for people like the magisters, with their fancy clothes and parties. It's...strange to learn it now. Kind of fun, but still strange," he mused, smiling tentatively at Penelope. The talking broke his rhythm; he cursed as he stumbled and tried to regain the trance-like quality of the dance.

"You boys are all the same. Worrying about a single part of the body, when you should be focusing on how your body moves as a whole." She released him, taking a step back. "Watch how the entirety of my body moves, yet I am focused on you."

Moving with a quiet grace, Penelope balanced on her toes, taking microsteps toward him, arms above her head until she was close enough to touch Tiberius. Then in a flash, one of her legs was around his neck, and the other his waist. The shift of gravity pulled them towards the floor, but Penelope halted their descent with her hands, expertly flipping him onto his back, her knees closing around his head.

"From which direction did that attack come from?" She smirked above him.

"Gah, I don't know," Tiberius gasped. "All of them?"

She gave him a stern look. Tiberius sat up and rubbed his head. Fine, he'd take it seriously. "While I was focused on your face and hands your legs came up from below. Maker, that flip was lightning fast." Tiberius rose to his feet. "I might have been able to defend against it if I'd just been less fixated on those details."

"You are partly correctly. But had you been watching closely, my arms dropped slightly when my legs shifted to keep my center of balance in the same position." She moved toward the closest, pulling out two foam boards, tossing one at him.

"When you cant see the entire body, what do you focus on to read your opponent?" Penelope began moving, following the same pattern of steps she had shown him a few moments ago.

"One two three. one two three. Mirror my movements."

Brows drawn down in a thoughtful frown, Tiberius tracked her dance. "On Seheron, whenever an enemy got inside my guard, the only thing I could use to tell where they would strike were their eyes. More often than not, their eyes would give it away, give me enough time to bring my shield up or strike back."

These were things he'd never really thought about before. His memories of the fighting on Seheron were often fuzzy. It had been a haze of instinct and barely controlled fear. Looking back on the fighting, it sometimes seemed that he'd survived based on sheer luck and muscle memory.

"The eyes are the windows of the soul." She stepped closer, touching her foam board to his, continuing the step pattern. "Try to get under my shield Warden, wait for a gap in the pattern to slide under and take out my feet."

He sank back into the rhythm, relaxing and trying to widen his perception. One, two... he lunged but Penelope slapped his board away and danced out of reach. Her red hair streamed behind her as she turned and resumed the steps of the dance.

Tiberius took a breath to settle himself again. He needed to watch and wait. Her eyes were serene, but he saw her take note each time he fell out of rhythm. He thought he saw her shoulders tense and instinct took over. He stepped in with board raised to take the force of a blow, but none came. Off balance again, Tiberius growled and stepped back into the dance. He remembered what he'd noticed before.

One, two, three...one, two- Tiberius threw a deliberate hiccup into his steps and capitalized on the split second when Penelope's eyes flickered reprovingly at his clumsy feet. He barely managed to hook his board around hers and threw his weight forward to knock her off balance.

Her shield tipped up and Penelope was gone, vaulting over his shoulder, her free hand landing squarely on his shoulder as she landed behind him. "Very good!"

"You almost had it. Just a touch too slow, dont think, just move." She leaned against the wall, absently spinning the piece of foam on the floor. "You did well Tiberius. But this isnt an overnight thing."

Penelope pushed away from the wall, putting the foam shields away and scribbling something on a piece of paper, "Ask, uh, is Jeeves still the head Librarian? Is he still alive? Either way, give this to whoever is there, the book is guide for stretches you need to practice."

The look on his face told her a lot, "its mostly images, dont worry. Do them every morning, then I want you to watch the others spar, watch them carefully, tell me which ones have trained with me, when you identify them all, and you can unbalance me, we'll move forward."

He accepted the note, feeling sore and tired but also proud of himself despite his failure to sweep Penelope off her feet. He nodded as a farewell and left her to her stretching in the mirrored room.

Tiberius emerged into the sunlight, blinking. It was mid-afternoon, too early for him to search out dinner and far too beautiful a day to spend in the library again. Besides, Andie would probably be in the library. He wasn't sure where they stood and didn't want to find out while Rhita was surveying him. "Well, if I'm not going inside then it's time to explore," he muttered. He strolled away, enjoying the sunshine.


End file.
